This is the third post I’ve written, that is a part of my new blog post series entitled “Transitions: Waiting for a Season of Change.” The reason I called it that is because, that is where I am at this point in time of my life. This is the first year in a long time that I didn’t start out with a long list of goals and plans.
In fact, when the year began three weeks ago, it was all up the air where God was going to take me, and what was I going to do next. The only goals I had was to revamp/grow my blogs (asklatisha.com and wordsofapoetriot.com), complete my children’s educational levels (Third-grade and Kindergarten) and transition to the next level, be a good wife, a good mom and home-maker, take care of myself and my kids, help them grow healthy and strong, body, mind and soul, and grow in my relationship with God. Okay, maybe, I still do have a lot of goals. What can I say, I’m a goal oriented person.
Then I have a whole lot of hopes and desires. Like finding a bigger home, because I am finding it very challenging to manage my home life (homeschool-2 children, work-at-home, toddler, and a baby) in the limited space we have. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for our blessings, but our family could use more room to grow.
So with that being said. Let’s talk about the homeschool dynamics for this third year of homeschool for our family. But before we do that, let’s go back for a moment to where it all started.
I first started to officially homeschool my daughter for First Grade, even though technically I homeschooled in her earlier years too, just not full-time. She went to “school in the building” for two years of Pre-school and then Kindergarten.
I had it on my heart to homeschool for years before, but was kind of afraid to take that step. We talked about it, thought about, prayed about it, researched it, we filled out the necessary paper work, bought the curriculum and then September 2012, we began First Grade.
The curriculum I choose was Alpha Omega Publications LifePac ® First Grade, 5 subjects (Bible, Math, Language Arts, Science, History & Geography). During my first year of homeschool I was pregnant with my third child. He was born at the beginning of summer vacation. At the end of completing my first year of homeschooling, I felt very proud of what we had accomplished and felt very excited to begin my second year of homeschool.
My biggest concerns and questions during that time was how will I keep my three year old occupied while teaching and dealing with pregnancy related sickness, fatigue, etc. It wasn’t easy, but God brought me through and we successfully completed the first year of homeschool.
Our second year of homeschool was a bit more challenging. I was excited to see what our homeschool dynamics was going to be like, as I was no longer pregnant, but still breastfeeding. However, I got pregnant again half way through. So within my second year of homeschool, I also had to muster through pregnancy related nausea, fatigue, etc. Once again, God brought us through and we completed another year.
Truth be told, this third year is the most challenging of all. Dealing with and trying my best to balance a third-grade student, a kindergartener, a troublesome (a curious climber who pulls down everything in his reach) toddler and a breastfeeding newborn baby (now four months).
The baby was born in October, basically at the beginning of the school year, so we’ve had a challenging time getting a consistent daily plan or schedule going. It was tough in the beginning, with those sleepless nights and breastfeeding every two hours, but the sleepless nights passed after about 6-7 weeks and the breastfeeding season passed by his third month.
Things have settled, in terms of newborn baby season, but I still have not been able to get a consistent school schedule going. It has just been a very challenging school year for me.
Not only because of what I’ve mentioned so far, but because my third-grader (my daughter) even though she just turned eight, wants to play all the time and needs a lot of pushing to focus and concentrate on school. That’s one of the reasons I’d like to get a bigger home. So she would have her own space to grow and have a quiet spot away from her playful little brothers to focus on school.
This year for her curriculum I am using Alpha and Omega- Switched-on-Schoolhouse Math, History & Geography, Bible and A Beka Books- Exploring God’s World (Science), Language 3, Art Projects 3, Health, Safety & Manners 3. For Second Grade, I used LifePac® Second Grade Math, Bible, Science, History & Geography, with additional resources like Read and Understand Poetry, Choosing Obedience (Train-Up a Child Publishing) and Kids of Character Bible Study. I bought all my curriculum from christianbook.com.
Today, was a tough homeschool day for me. My mood was terrible and I lost my smile and could not get it back no matter how I tried. These emotions took over most of my day. We ended up not doing school at all because I could not calm my spirit down.
So I hid out for a few hours, while Dad watched the kids and left me alone. He knew I needed that. I watched a movie called “Coffee Shop” (Uptv movie). It was nice, it had a quote in it I want to share with you.
“Don’t lose yourself in the temporary. No one has ever seen, no one has heard and no one has ever imagine what God has prepared.”
This homeschool year has challenged me more than any other, sometimes I felt frustrated, sometimes I’ve felt discourage. But I know that this is only for a season and that God knows the plans He has for my family. God knows how things are going to be for us days, months, years from now. He sees the big picture and all He needs me to do is to not give up. To hang in there. He knows.
Share your homeschool story?
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Latisha, it sounds like you have a ton of “life” going on. Our children are all 18-20 months apart, so I can understand some of your frustrations. But when you choose obedience to God (which it sounds like you have), then it is always better than the alternative.
It warmed my heart to hear your husband stepped up to help you out. I have that kind of husband too and deeply long for all women to have such a wonderful resource.
I had to cut some things out of my life to make room for homeschooling, and it has been worth it.
It’s funny whenever people tell us they don’t know how we raise a large family in such a small farm house. I grew up in a LARGE city and am used to tiny spaces, so of course I think it’s huge, and think we have plenty of room.
Homeschooling is a blessing to our family and it sounds like a blessing to yours as well.
Is that Princess Bible an ESV version by chance? We have been looking for four years for a Pink ESV version. If it is, I’d love to know where you got it.
(Please excuse the rambling.)
Pinning this to my homeschool resource board for others to get ideas of your curriculum as well.
Blessings,
I am sure it can be overwhelming to home school, but I am sure it is worth the investment. Prayer for you in your transition. I am your neighbor at Fellowship Friday Linkup! ~gina
Hi Gina,
Thank you for dropping by and thanks for your prayers. Many Blessings to you as well.
This is our second year homeschooling and I know how you feel about being overwhelmed at times. I am not as overwhelmed as you though as I have two kids and they are so close in age and on the same level of learning in a lot of areas so I can just teach them both the same thing a lot of the times. Your attitude is very encouraging through this post and a good reminder that God has a great plan for our family, even on the hard days. Thanks for sharing!
I can only imagine how overwhelming all of it is on you but I applaud you for continuing to move forward with what is best and right for you and your family. We all have moments as Mom’s in which we aren’t sure if we can keep going but we are Mom’s and somehow, some way each new day we have the courage and strength to get up and do it all over again!
Thank you for sharing this post on the SHINE Blog Hop!
xx
Lysa
Welcome to My Circus
Co-host #SHINEbloghop 2/5
We have been homeschooling for over 13 years and it is an incredible journey both good and bad. I am glad that you and your husband are working together to make it work.
Thanks for sharing at Good Morning Mondays. Blessings
I’m praying that I’ll be able to homeschool my kid(s) and this post really helps me see the reality behind it. We’re planning on having 4-6 kiddos (just had our first!!!) so I’ll be dealing with different ages too. What a wonderful reminder to me that it won’t be as picturesque as I sometimes see it. Thanks for linking up with the Faith and Fellowship Blog Hop!
Home schooling isn’t common here in Australia. I feel for parents who choose to home school their kids for whatever reason – it must be such a difficult balancing act. How you do it all is beyond me! Everyone has bad days, mothers included, and the fact you already have done it for two years is commendable. Thanks for linking up at Mum-bo Monday
We are on our second year of homeschooling and have finally found what I call our “sweet spot.” We’ve worked through many tough lessons and are really enjoying the place we are in now. In a couple of months, however, our third child will be born, and we’ll have to figure out new routines in order to get back to a place where we are all moving forward positively. Transitions are never easy, but I know that if The Lord has called us to it, He will direct our steps. Blessings to you!
Hugs to you today~ I know there can be some really tough days! You aren’t alone! Hang in there! {Thanks for linking with Grace and Truth :)
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